You Better Lose Yourself In The Music

by Robison Wells

Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable.
--Samuel Johnson

One of the most frequently asked questions on writer forums (I frequent six such websites) is "Do you listen to music while you write?" My answer is a solid yes. As a matter of fact, my answer is: "Girl, you know it's true." Also: "Yes to ya mama, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh."

Adding to the list of silly medical conditions with which I am afflicted (along with Restless Leg Syndrome and a double-jointed shoulder blade) is my utter inabilty to block out background noise. In other words, when I go to my mother-in-law's house, and there's a TV on in every room, and the kids are playing, and my wife and her sister are talking, and the phone rings, then my head explodes. But more to the point: if I'm at home, trying to write, and anything is going on in the house, I can hear it -- and I can't ignore it.

(Here's an example of how bad it is: at night I have to cover up the alarm clock with a pillow so I can't hear it. AND THE CLOCK IS FRICKING DIGITAL! I swear, it makes a very faint whirring noise. No one else can hear it. Also: I swear, on the Bible and my well-worn copy of Charly, I can hear my own spinal fluid. Honestly, I promise I can.) (So, maybe the issue isn't so much a hearing problem as it is dementia?)

So, what I started doing was to listen to music while I write. Not the radio, mind you, but music that I'm extremely familiar with; music of which I know every note and lyric. And I listen to it with headphones, and I listen to it loud. This way, I hear the music, but nothing else.

And whether by chance or design (I can't remember), two of my books have been written with theme music--whatever playlist I had running on my computer, I kept throughout the entire writing process. In fact, my first two books each had a specific song that I'd listen to to set the mood (these were primarily to set the mood for the romance portions of the book, because I'm not a very romantic person by nature, and needed help). For On Second Thought, the song was Dave Matthews Band's Angel. For Wake Me When It's Over, it was DMB's Grace is Gone. In between those books I wrote another, unpublished novel that was written entirely to Sacred Spirits--kind of traditional Native American music set to a dance beat. There's a funny couple of paragraphs in On Second Thought that exist solely because I was listening to Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone while writing.

Who's the cat who won't cop out when there's danger all about? Answer: not me! I'm copping out by pulling a Kerry (and a Stephanie) and posing a question, making you, the reader, do the hard work. The cop-out question is: what do you listen to while you write? And if you don't listen to music, why not? And: can you hear your own spinal fluid? If not, you should. (If so, does it tell you to burn things, too? Weird.)